Stage 36 · Limits, Derivatives & Their Applications
36.2.1 The Average Rate of Change
36.2 How Fast Things Change: From Average to Instant
Point 1 of 5
36.2.1 The Average Rate of Change
Core ideaTake how much height you gained over a stretch of time and divide, and you get the average steepness Δy/Δx.
Module goal. Use a limit to squeeze "the average pace over a stretch" down into "the pace at this very instant," leading naturally to the heart of the derivative.